A Forum for Vigorous Debate, Cornerstone of Democracy

***********************************************************************************************************************************A FORUM FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND VIGOROUS DEBATE, CORNERSTONES OF DEMOCRACY[For the journal(guidelines, focus, etc.), go to www.theamericandissident.org].Encouraged censorship and self-censorship seem to have become popular in America today. Those who censor others, not just self, tend to favor the term "moderate," as opposed to "censor" and "moderation" to "censorship." But that doesn't change what they do. They still act as Little Caesars or Big Brother protectors of the thin-skinned. Democracy, however, demands a tough populace, not so easily offended. On this blog, and to buck the trend of censorship, banning, and ostracizing, comments are NEVER "moderated." Rarely (almost NEVER) do the targets of these blog entries respond in an effort to defend themselves with cogent counter-argumentation. This blog is testimony to how little academics, poets, critics, newspaper editors, cartoonists, political hacks, cultural council apparatchiks, librarians et al appreciate VIGOROUS DEBATE, cornerstone of democracy. Clearly, far too many of them could likely prosper just fine in places like communist China and Cuba or Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Russia.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Lucy Loomis

Cape Cod Artists in the Box of Conformity

Open Letter to Lucy Loomis
The new cartoon you inspired is now posted on The American Dissident
blogsite.You also inspired the
following thoughts.

…………………………………..

Satire is all I have.I
cannot beat free-speech scorning Americans in power.But at least I can piss them off a bit with
my rude-truth criticism.

For an interesting experience, one
should try bucking conformity for a moment—stepping out of line and observing
the inevitable resultant frowns upon the faces of conformists, sometimes even
hatred in their eyes.But doing that
takes a certain degree of courage, which most conformists do not possess.

Vague statements issued by those
in powerare perhaps purposeful, for
there is no way I can disprove, for example, that I made the library director
“feel uncomfortable” or said “inappropriate things.”Evidently, such statements serve to divert
attention away from the initial argument and are, in essence, immaterial to
it.In a court of law, such statements
hold no weight.Facts hold
weight, not nebulous feelings.

Waving flags during the Fourth of
July is an act of conformity and blind patriotism. Most who
engage in that kind of behavior would likely not stand up to support First Amendment rights of
a citizen not part of their network of family and friends.

………………………………………

What you did with my regard remains almost
inexplicable.In fact, the only
explanation that I’ve been able to come up with is that you’ve been wallowing
in positive feedback all your life.Thus, when I suddenly appeared, pointed out that you clearly violated
your own collection development policy, you did not quite know how to
react.If you had been brought up in an
ambiance of vigorous debate and encouraged criticism, you would have been able
to react with some sort of cogent counter-argument or at least admit that I was
right and correct the error.Instead, you punished me for
stating a simple TRUTH.

Your inability to react intelligently resulted in your
issuing an autocratic decree—a permanent trespass order without due
process.Benito Mussolini, of course, would
have been proud of you.I certainly harbor no hatred with
your regard.That’s not who I am.I don’t carry grudges, though suspect you
likely do.You don’t really make me
“feel uncomfortable,” though you did say “inappropriate things.”Perhaps Dan Santos makes me “feel uncomfortable.”Is he violent?His comments seemed to indicate that he too
is quite incapable of dealing with cogent arguments, that is, with reason.And when that occurs, the autocratic kneejerk
or violence tends to kick in.

Imagine getting so upset by the word "fucking" and not
being able to understand the point of my placard, though it couldn’t be any
simpler:CELEBRATE THE FIRST FUCKING
AMENDMENT, NOT COMMERCE!Imagine that
one guy called me CHARLES MANSON.Indeed, for him, the written word FUCKING was as bad as real MASS
MURDERING.For Santos, you, that guy,
and so many others, the educational system has been a serious failure. For you and so many others, the written word
FUCKING is much more serious than a
fellow citizen getting permanently trespassed without DUE PROCESS.

You and I are so different. It is sad that instead of
expelling me you did not at least make an attempt to understand me.

PS:Your photography needs to rise above the
banal—the innocuous and hackneyed so common here on the Cape.You RISK nothing at all in your art.Yet an artist should dare RISK and step out
on the edge from time to time.Do
so!It could only help improve what you
do.Blackberries are fine, but you need
to do something much, much better.And
you can only do that if you summon courage to step out of the comfortable box
you’ve been sitting in for decades.Art
or power?That’s the question you need
to ask yourself.Art or smiley-face
conformity.Should artists be
conformists?Not at all!Yet here on the Cape that’s precisely what
they seem to be.And your cultural
council evidently encourages it.Money
always encourages conformity.

No comments:

Trigger Warning: This Blog May Contain Highly Offensive Content for Comfortably Entrenched Academics, Poets of the Status Quo, Politically-Correct Indoctrinees, and Gatekeepers of All Shades, Colors, Ages, and Sexual Orientations.

VERITAS NUMQUAM PERIT

Locate what you may believe to be errors in these blog entries, and I will rectify them, if in fact errors, and readily admit wrong for each and every one of them. To dismiss the writing and cartoon sketches, however, with ad hominem and quips simply serves to deflect attention from their truths. When you choose to dismiss someone as "angry" and "bitter," one must assume you are simply projecting your own anger and bitterness. Try instead logical point-by-point counter-argumentation.